Tag: reading

anthology, books, collaboration, fantasy, fiction, long stories, reading, science fiction, short stories, wandering grove press, writing

Interview with Ceaseless Way contributor Allegra Gulino

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Hello, all! Here’s one more interview with another contributor to our collaborative anthology, Allegra Gulino. Remember, The Ceaseless Way: An Anthology of Wanderers’ Tales is still on sale in paperback for a few more days, so if you’re looking for something to read while you’re home for the holidays, this is a great time to check it out! The paperback version is available here, and the ebook version can be found on a number of platforms here. (If you want to learn more about our collaboration group, Wandering Grove Press, you can join our Facebook group here or follow us on Bluesky here.)

If you missed my previous interviews with Fraser Sherman and Ada Milenkovic Brown, you can check them out here and here.

1.   Do you think your two stories are a good representation of your usual style and subject matter? Is there anything about them that’s unusual for you?

My stories in Ceaseless Way are a good representation of my usual style and subject matter because they’re excerpts from my novel,  Monsters Unbound, which I’ve been working on for about two years. This project has become my world, and its tone is a culmination of a lot of my previous work.

2.   What’s one style or plot element you’d like to “steal” from another contributor?

If I were to ‘steal’ from any other contributor here – which I don’t condone doing – I’d probably take Ada Milenkovic Brown’s folkloric elements, Fraser Sherman’s brevity and quick action, Katherine Trayler’s dreamy atmosphere, Rich Matrunick’s sense of peril, Secily Sluker’s metaphysical vision and Arden Brook’s whimsey.

3.   Are there any anthologies or collections you’ve really enjoyed reading lately?

I recently subscribed to the classic Fantasy and Science-Fiction magazine. While it’s not officially an anthology, its collection of short stories, one or two poems and a few pages of book reviews do feel like one. So far, I’ve enjoyed diving into a diverse variety of writing styles, genres and themes within its pages (yes, it’s a physical magazine). I always find tales to admire, be intrigued by and sometimes, to figure out – I’m not the best at parsing hard Science-Fiction.

4.   What writers have had the greatest influence on you throughout your writing journey?

There are a plethora of author influences for me, starting with YA classics, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe series by C.S. Lewis, and A Wrinkle In Time trilogy by Madeline L’Engle. I cannot remember which came first, those two, or when I picked up J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, but I was instantly hooked by the wonderful journeys that all three authors illustrate. In High School, I fell in love with Frank Herbert’s Dune series, and Stephen R. Donaldson’s Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. In class I was awed by Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, A Separate Peace by John Knowles and Jayne Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. In college, my English Literature major steered me toward classical literature. I came to favor the works of Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner, Lawrence Sterne, William Blake, John Donne, Emily Dickinson, James Joyce and D.H. Lawrence. More recently, I’ve come to love Ursula Le Guin, Emile Zola, Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, Thomas Pynchon, and Marcel Proust. Over the years I’ve learned about writing craft (and continue to do so) and also about the attributes that I admire in books, so my reading standards have risen. Though my writing is grouped under the umbrella of Speculative Fiction, I’ve always read widely.

5.   What is your editing process like? How long does it take you to bring a story from start to finish?

I edit while I write, instead of throwing the words down quickly and then going back to edit. This is because when I write, my vision for the scene is keen – I feel a sense of urgency about getting it as close to how I picture it as possible before I move on to the next section. Therefore, I’m not a fast writer, so focusing on daily word counts would only frustrate me because they’re usually not very high.  I spend lots of time refining and reworking, not just on typing more words, However, once I’m satisfied with a chapter or section of the piece – it’s very polished and I don’t need to revisit it often. Then I can tackle what comes next.

6.   Do you have any hobbies that aren’t related to reading or writing?

I love to sing – usually karaoke singing, though I was a community choir member for twelve years. I also love music and to dance – nothing professional. I frequently perform at No Shame Theatre events. Aside from that, I’m a consummate lap swimmer and gym goer. I also love to hike and to travel. When not out and about, I enjoy staying at our home in the woods, by a creek, where I give attention to our three darling rescue cats, a sixty gallon aquarium, house plants and garden.
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7.   Are there any songs or pieces of artwork that capture the “vibe” of your stories (or of other stories in the anthology)?

I have a playlist that I’ve used for writing Monsters Unbound. It’s instrumental music from classics like Mozart, Franz Liszt, Beethovan, Chopin and Vivaldi, to more recent composers such as Satie, Leonard Bernstein and Leos Janacek, Igor Stravinsky. I also enjoy global pieces from South America, Africa, India, Romani culture and so on. I love composers like Andreas Vollenweider or the Silk Road Ensemble, that have multicultural instruments, rhythms and tunes. That playlist also includes soundtracks, from Bram Stoker’s Dracula, to Merchant and Ivory films, to Frida, to the Lord of the Rings and the Hannibal series. I love music that takes me on a journey, full of pathos, drama, or tenderness, but usually with at least a hint of darkness.

8.   Are there any real-world places that inspired your two stories?

Absolutely, for Monsters Unbound. To inform and inspire my book, we went to Romania for two weeks last summer to collect information, imbibe atmospheres and explore historical sites. It was a fantastic trip and I want to go back! However, while my two stories in Ceaseless Way are set in real places – environments that I researched – they are not specific locations within that backdrop.

9.   What would be the ideal place and time to enjoy each of your stories? What snacks and drinks would pair well with your stories?

A fascinating question. For Demon, He Called Me, it would add to the atmosphere if you could read it on a dock, by a river or on a boat, so you can hear the water lapping.  As far as what to eat, I have two suggestions. The more luxurious would be a caramel/chocolate confection with sea salt, and a port wine. Or a nitty gritty option –  sardines or anchovies and water to drink. For The Ortega Wolves Migrate North, some good Mexican fare, like pozole or chalupas, with sangria, consumed in a desert environment or at least near some cacti in a sunroom.

Thank you, Allegra! Happy holidays, everyone. I hope these interviews have inspired you to check out the book! : )

Cover image by GetCovers; original cover concept by Arden Brooks.

anthology, books, collaboration, fantasy, fiction, horror, long stories, professional life, reading, science fiction, short stories, wandering grove press, writing

Interview with Ceaseless Way contributor Ada Milenkovic Brown

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Hello, all! Here’s another long-belated publicity post for our new collaborative anthology (The Ceaseless Way: An Anthology of Wanderers’ Tales). This week, contributor Ada Milenkovic Brown talks about her two stories in the anthology and what led her to write them.

Again, if you’re interested in picking up a copy of this book, this is a great week to do so. The paperback version will remain on sale for $9.99 USD until January (at which point it will return to the normal price of $12.99). If you prefer ebook, it’s available on a number of platforms for $5.99 and will remain at that price. If you want to learn more about our collaboration group, Wandering Grove Press, you can join our Facebook group here or follow us on Bluesky here.

If you missed my previous interview with Fraser Sherman, you can check it out here. One more interview with contributor Allegra Gulino should be up in a couple of days.

(Ada also interviewed me, Fraser, and Allegra for this promotional mini-tour, so please check out those interviews as well!)

Headshot of Ada Milenkovic Brown
  1. Do you think your two stories are a good representation of your usual style and subject matter? Is there anything about them that’s unusual for you? 

    I think In Valleys is absolutely spot on the sort of thing I usually write, including the love story elements.  

    I was actually intending to write something more fantasy based for my Bigfoot story, Nnn’s Children, but it just came out more realistically than I expected. Other than that, it is my style to write as plausibly as possible within the framework of the story world. So maybe it is in my usual style too.

  2. What’s one style or plot element you’d like to “steal” from another contributor?

    If I could bottle Rich Matrunick’s tone/mood/voice in Fading, I would bathe in it, metaphorically speaking. Other than that, I envy everyone else’s apparent ease with getting their stories to arc in a satisfying way. It is so so hard for me to find that in the initial stages of writing my fiction.

  3. Are there any anthologies or collections you’ve really enjoyed reading lately?

    I loved and learned a lot about what makes stories work from Charlie Jane Anders’ collection Ever Greater Mistakes.


  4. What writers have had the greatest influence on you throughout your writing journey?

    When it comes to writers I’ve read, it’s Zenna Henderson, Ray Bradbury, N. K. Jemisin, and Jeffrey Ford. I would say the writers who’ve had the greatest influence on me as teachers were Octavia Butler, Andy Duncan, Walter Jon Williams, and Nancy Kress.


  5. What is your editing process like? How long does it take you to bring a story from start to finish?

    Sometimes it takes me weeks, sometimes it takes me years. For the regular editing, I just pick away at it, like a painter adding a dab of paint here and there, until I can make it different, but I can’t make it better.  My real pitfall is plot holes and endings.  These are what take me a long time sometimes to find the inspiration to realize where the story needs to go. But I’ve gotten better at that over the years.


  6. Do you have any hobbies that aren’t related to reading or writing?

    Singing. I’m a lyric soprano and have sung solos in performances with choirs and at weddings and funerals. I tend to get asked to sing more funerals than weddings. I don’t know what that says.

    I’m also an oboist.

    Acting, although a case could be made that figuring out how to portray a character onstage is very akin to writing a character.

    Hiking and cycling, but I sometimes get story ideas while I’m moving around out in nature, so maybe that’s related to writing too.

    I do origami to relax.


  7. Are there any songs or pieces of artwork that capture the “vibe” of your stories (or of other stories in the anthology)?

    I vibe with surrealist paintings for the most part, such as: Paul Delvaux’s The Village of the Mermaids and just about any painting by Leonora Carrington. In fact, Leonora Carrington’s work could fit with our entire anthology.


  8. Are there any real-world places that inspired your two stories?

    Because five of my published stories take place in particular spots in North Carolina, I decided to continue writing a collection made up entirely of stories based in particular places in that state (where I live).  Littleton, NC and Medoc Mountain State Park nearby have had Bigfoot sightings, and that is why I wrote a Bigfoot story set in that locale.

    Although the medieval village in my In Valleys story is fictional, the original 1860 story it’s based on mentions a nearby village that does exist. It was my discovery that the nearby village was in East Germany near the (Communist period) wall that triggered the ideas for In Valleys Where Eternities Lie.


  9. What would be the ideal place and time to enjoy each of your stories? What snacks and drinks would pair well with your stories?

    There’s never a bad time to read. But otherwise, good lighting and a comfy chair, sofa, bed.  Although I think readers might feel an extra resonance if they read Nnn’s Children outside, say under a shady tree.

    Apples figure into both of my stories, so maybe readers should eat an apple when they read them. Otherwise, I usually like having a glass of wine when I read.
Photograph of apples on a sunlit, leafy tree branch.

Thank you, Ada, for your interview (and for your amazing leadership in getting the contracts hammered out!). Tune in soon for one more interview and a bit more information about the anthology from my perspective.

Cover image by GetCovers; original cover concept by Arden Brooks. Headshot by/of Ada Milenkovic Brown. Apple tree image by kiyu_01.

reading, Uncategorized

Brother and Sister

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Last night I read the most beautiful story about giant robots. It’s “Metal Like Blood in the Dark,” by T. Kingfisher, aka Ursula Vernon, currently published by Uncanny Magazine. (Spoilers below.)

I’m not sure if I’d ever read anything of hers before now, but this story was so, so good. It’s clearly fairy-tale inspired, with elements of Hansel and Gretel and other stories, but is set on a burned-out mining planet and its asteroid belt somewhere in space. It features a kind old professor who makes two robot children but must leave them for the sake of his health. They go out on their own to wait for him to come back, but fall prey to another machine much more predatory and deceptive than they are. Sister (who becomes the viewpoint character) must learn to think differently and change parts of herself in order to save her brother and escape their captor.

This story is masterful. I am trying to learn the art of short fiction (as you may have noticed), but since I’ve always worked and thought mostly in novel form, it’s something I’m having to pick up in bits and pieces. One thing I really realized lately was that if you want your story to sell, you really need a sympathetic and well-drawn protagonist and a clear, winnable (or losable) conflict. A story without these elements can be impressive, but it won’t be loved. (And don’t we all want to be loved?)

Kingfisher’s Brother and Sister are massive machines who bore through the earth and fly through the sky like insects, looking for metals to eat, and they love their father very, very much. They care for each other, make sacrifices to protect each other, and learn life lessons through the course of the story. If automata can be imbued with that much humanity in the hands of a master, then any character can pull at the reader’s heartstrings if written with enough care.

The other thing is that the writing is just exquisite. Every phrase is cut like a gem, and every image sings. I had to stop and stare at the screen and marvel when I read the line “…while Brother drank starlight from Sister’s fingers.” Reading, I wondered glumly if I could ever get to that level, and how Vernon herself learned to write like that. Then I visited the author’s website and saw that she’s incredibly prolific, having written nineteen books for children, nineteen books for adults, and two different webcomics (one winning multiple awards), which she also illustrates. That’s not counting the short stories. So that’s how, I guess.

As one of the vast majority of fantasy writers who are 1) not prolific and 2) completely unknown beyond friends and family, it’s hard to avoid glum comparisons with writers like Kingfisher/Vernon, or Gaiman, or N.K. Jemisin, or any of the Hugo/Nebula regulars. I don’t know, it’s like an ambitious amateur baseball player looking wistfully at someone who got a major-league contract at nineteen: even if I could go back in time and do everything differently, I’d never be where they are. But there’s really nothing to do about this, and you can give up or keep writing whatever the result, so I guess I’ll (slowly) do the latter.

Anyway, this wasn’t actually meant to be a glumpost. I actually did want to recommend the story I just read, and to say I’m looking forward to reading more by this author. And if you like fairy tales and sweet stories set in space, then I recommend you check this story out, too.

Public-domain image of a hand holding a pen, apparently writing, at a sunlit desk with papers and a white coffee mug on it. The sleeve of a cozy gray sweater is visible.
books, daily life, fantasy, fiction, Uncategorized, updates

Friday Update

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Hi, kids! Having another quiet night. Tomorrow I’m taking the day off from writers’ group to spend time with Fran and her mom, so I’m hoping to get some work done today. Very quiet with just me and the cats; I’m used to sharing Friday nights with someone else now.

Recently I’ve gotten a decent amount of work done. I finished a short dark piece on a fictional species of invasive fish, and have begun several other new projects.(Yeah, I know…). Actually, I’ve just noticed that there are many more open markets for horror than for fantasy, so I’m trying my hand at a few more short horror stories. Lots of anthologies coming out that I’m excited to submit to.

I’m feeling a bit better about the craft in general now. I got a couple of really nice rejection emails last week–you wouldn’t think a rejection would make you happier, but these were really complimentary. Sometimes all you need is for a professional to tell you you’re not a hack. So I’ve started confidently attempting projects that are rather out of my usual wheelhouse. I also have a couple of stories I wrote before developing the new prose style (technique?) that I use now. I’ll probably put them up here, rather than rework them, because I’ve already got plenty on my to-do list, and reworking an old story is just as hard as writing a new one. You’ll see them soon.

Still working slowly through A Suitable Boy, but I’ll probably take another break and read something different. Also still flipping through The Haunting of Hill House, which I reread every couple of years. It still holds up for me. Sometimes you look back at a story that helped to shape your adolescence (and your creative aesthetic) and realize it has fundamental structural flaws that might actually be influencing the way you put your own work together. I guess in a way that’s nice: if XYZ Book has major flaws, but still won several prizes and lingers in the fond memories of many, there’s probably hope for me. I think I’ll try The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton next; it seems like a good choice for the season.

We’re getting into the early-autumn weeks where witchy, spooky things linger at the fringes of daylight and I am very susceptible to Spook. I want real-life ghost stories and dark harvest aesthetic. I bought ribbon to redecorate my front door wreath, and might get to that tonight. Ooh, I could also bring down the glass Jack-o-lantern I bought last year. I’m getting more and more into this kind of light-vintage, 70s-80s domestic aesthetic of deathless wooden furniture, lace and florals, etc. etc. I want a La-Z-Boy chair and an indomitable couch, a wooden chest for blankets, a basket of scarves in the closet. I want lighting with the warm tinge of the old incandescent bulbs, and the kind of quiet you’d hear on a summer night at my grandparents’ old farm. (But I don’t want to leave the city–haha, oh no–and moving apartments with old-fashioned furniture is a bit of an endeavor.)

I think this kind of feeling is pretty common now, at least judging by the popularity of the whole “cottagecore” trend. I guess we’re still trying to imagine there are still insects buzzing outside, that the natural world is still proceeding in ordered seasons the way it’s supposed to. I think everyone wants to rewind the clock on nature (see rewilding efforts, which I’m a big fan of). I’m not sure how successful it can really be, but there’s something comforting in the idea. Maybe aesthetics like cottagecore are also a harmless way to connect to cultural traditions marred by outdated social mores (not to speak of horrific historical atrocities). I think also that, being 37 and likely to remain childless, I might be thinking nostalgically about the continuity of family. I’ve gotten into perfumes lately, and two scents I’m really fond of are one my mother used to wear and one that reminds me of my grandmother. I do think it’s easier to feel that old-timey vibe here in Central Europe, where the landscape seems to change much more slowly than in the places I’ve lived before. And of course, given everything, I haven’t seen my actual family in more than two years.

Anyway. Take care, everyone, and have a good weekend. Let’s move on one day at a time.

Much love,
Kate

Public-domain image of a hand holding a pen, apparently writing, at a sunlit desk with papers and a white coffee mug on it. The sleeve of a cozy gray sweater is visible.
books, daily life, fiction, movies, short stories, updates

Friday Update

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Another quiet week. More people are coming back from vacation, but I only had to teach a few lessons this week, and really enjoyed the free time. I finished my submission for writers’ group early, which was a nice treat; usually I’m up late Friday night to get it done.

Re: computer: We looked at parts to build one, and it made my brain ache, so for peace of mind I went with a laptop. Hello, new Acer. May you prosper.

Fran’s mom is visiting. Met her for the first time yesterday and it was lovely. We don’t really have a common language (even if I spoke more Italian, I wouldn’t understand Sicilian), but I’m picking up bits as fast as I can and making Fran translate the rest. Got to taste proper Italian sausage yesterday (of course her mom brought a lot of food in her luggage ^_^). Did you know they sometimes put vegetables into the sausage casing? I did not, but I support it.

Went to a giant craft store the other day. Bought way too many craft supplies and had a great time.

Cold Comfort Farm was funny but had a lot of flaws: the parody was clunky, and I don’t think the author quite managed what she was going for. But I started watching the movie just now, and it seems to do the job much better. Quite funny; will see if it holds up.

Besides the new section of VOID, I started two new projects: a short story for submission, and another one for Halloween. “But Katherine,” you say, sounding rather exasperated, “every week you tell us about a new project you’ve started. Very rarely do you mention a project that’s finished.” Well, I’ll tell you that that’s an entirely valid point. Wish me luck.

Love all. Miss most of you.

Kate

Public-domain image of a hand holding a pen, apparently writing, at a sunlit desk with papers and a white coffee mug on it. The sleeve of a cozy gray sweater is visible.
adhd, daily life, Uncategorized, updates

Friday Update and Armchair Psychiatry

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Writing from a Chromebook now. My laptop decided after working for a day that it wasn’t actually fine after its little shower, and now it won’t turn on. Since it was a ten-year-old MacBook Air, and I don’t have a lot of MacBook money, I’m probably going to follow Fran’s advice and build a desktop (make her help me build a desktop) to replace it. I also bought a wireless keyboard to go with my tablet in case I need a portable workstation. At least it’s lighter than a laptop.

This situation has made the week a bit stressful, so I haven’t done much heavy reading despite not having much work to do (clients are still on vacation). I did start rereading The Blue Sword (Robin McKinley), a comfort book from childhood, and am plugging through Cold Comfort Farm. I’ve also gotten a good bit done on VOID, and a little on a short story that might even turn out to be short. I swear I will learn to write short stories someday.

It’s almost August, which I personally consider the beginning of fall. The days are hot, but the light is changing. The nights are getting cool. If I open the windows (and lock the cats up so they won’t climb out on the roof), it feels like great weather for a night walk. Unfortunately, my neighborhood, though fine in daylight, isn’t really an “evening stroll” kind of locale. Instead, we started watching Jungle Cruise, which is reasonably entertaining.

On a different note: I have what I’m pretty sure is ADHD. I’ve never been screened for it, but I have most symptoms on every list I’ve ever seen. I saw this in a Facebook group the other day, and it really knocked me over.

Content credit Reddit user soozdreamz

So I’ve been a compulsive eater all my life, particularly of sweets. I could never stay away from them. If there were no sweets, I’d binge-eat whatever I could get. Most of my most shameful childhood memories revolve around stealing food. At parties, I always haunted the refreshment table. The food was always in the back of my mind: what looked like it tasted best, how soon I could eat it, how much I could take without looking greedy. I could never understand how other people could not eat when good things were on the table. It didn’t matter how full I was, or how ashamed of my appetite and belly; if something good was there to be eaten, I would eat it until I couldn’t eat anymore.

I never understood why I couldn’t control myself the way other people could. It was much worse when I was tired or stressed. On a bad day, I’d go to the shop and systematically collect everything that looked tasty, and then I’d sit down and eat through the entire pile. It was like a job I had to do. It didn’t even taste very good after the first minute, but I kept doing it.

So… this post really explained a lot for me. I’ve had people tell me I was eating because I was bored, eating because I was nervous, eating because I was tired. But I’ve never heard anyone tell me, “You’re eating because you’re low on dopamine. Every time you eat something tasty, that little burst of pleasure gives you a little chemical boost that builds up your initiative until you’re able to handle tasks again.” Again, I’ve never been screened for this, but I’ve been observing my eating habits over the past two days, and it really does seem to work that way. Maybe even my procrastination–the long stretches when I sit watching YouTube or reading fanfic or playing mobile games instead of starting on my projects–is a way of banking dopamine, gearing up for the quick bursts of hyperfocused work time when I’m actually able to get things done.

I don’t know. I’m not a psychiatrist. But it seems like a decent theory. I’ll play with it and let you know.